Troy Davis's execution 'should not occur in the 21st century'

Myuran Sukumaran (left)
Andrew Chan (right)

The President of the Criminal Lawyers Association of Western Australia has called the execution of United States man, Troy Davis, "barbaric" and says all countries should move to abolish capital punishment altogether.

Mr Davis protested his innocence in his dying minutes before United States authorities administered the lethal injection at 11.08am, Georgia time.

The 42-year-old Georgia man was executed 20 years after he was convicted of the fatal shooting of a police officer and despite a plea for clemency from almost a million people worldwide.

Phil Urquhart, of the CLAWA, said Australia will soon be faced with the similar situation when two of the Bali Nine, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, face their upcoming executions in Indonesia.

The Sydney pair was among nine Australians caught trying to smuggle 8.3 kg of heroin through Bali, Indonesia which carries a death sentence for drug smuggling.

"There's only a handful of western democracies that still have capital punishment and most have demolished it a considerable time ago since it is a barbaric and totally inappropriate punishment," he said.

"To have someone executed for a crime no matter how serious it is should not occur and it is time to move into the 21st century and abolish capital punishment."

He said the problem was that a large number of those executed by capital punishment in the United States have since been found to be innocent due to the advancement in forensics.

"There's no victory for them if years afterwards they are exonerated, you can't bring back the dead," he said.

He said in those cases two families unfairly suffer; the victim's family and the family of the person wrongfully executed.

And in the case of the two young Sydney men and their families, they face a penalty that would never be carried out in Australia had they been arrested on the other side of the border, he said.

"Capital punishment is too serious for any type of offending, particularly when it's in relation to drugs," he said.

He said the problem faced by South East Asian countries was that their governments don't want to be seen offering clemency or leniency towards foreigners while at the same time executing their own people for the same offence.

"The death penalty is seen as a deterrent but the fact is it doesn't really serve as a deterrent because Australians and other foreigners are still being caught over there, in countries where the death penalty applies," he said.

"The Australian Government should be pushing for the abolition of capital punishment full stop, rather than arguing for clemency for its individual citizens facing the death penalty."

Sukumaran and Chan are currently in Kerobokan Prison awaiting the date of their execution unless granted clemency by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald, Sept. 22, 2011

Related articles:

Death Penalty News: Bali Nine Ringleader Myuran Sukumaran ...

Jul 09, 2011

Myuran Sukumaran (left) Andrew Chan (right). Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd has used his visit to Indonesia to raise the issue of 2 members of the Bali Nine who have lost their final appeals against the death penalty. Andrew...

http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/

Death Penalty News: Bali 9 duo Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew ...

May 20, 2011

The courses were inspired and partly run by Sukumaran, Chan and fellow Bali 9 member Matthew Norman, as part of their bid to provide rehabilitation behind bars and to give something back to Indonesia. Fellow Australian...

http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/

Death Penalty News: Mother of Bali Nine ringleader makes plea

Jul 19, 2011

The Indonesian Supreme Court this month rejected Sukumaran's final appeal against his death sentence for his part in the 2005 plot to smuggle more than eight kilograms of heroin from Bali to Australia. Sukumaran was the...

http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/

Bali Nine pair Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran plead to live

Sep 21, 2010

BALI Nine ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran (left) will appear in court as their final appeals against the death penalty begin. It is expected the pair will tell judges of their regret and their rehabilitation since being ...

http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/

Comments

Alabama | Gov. Ivey commutes Charles “Sonny” Burton’s death sentence

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - Gov. Kay Ivey has commuted the death sentence of Charles “Sonny” Burton, who was set to be executed Thursday. The governor’s office released the following statement: “Governor Kay Ivey on Tuesday announced that she has commuted the death sentence of Charles L. Burton to life in prison with no chance of parole. Mr. Burton was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1991 capital murder of Doug Battle in Talladega, Alabama. As required by law, the governor first reached out to a representative of Mr. Battle’s family. She also notified the attorney general. Governor Ivey’s letter to Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm is attached.

Texas executes Cedric Ricks

A Texas man was put to death Wednesday evening for fatally stabbing his girlfriend and her 8-year-old son in 2013, apologizing profusely to her older son who survived with multiple stab wounds and witnessed the execution. Cedric Ricks, 51, was pronounced dead at 6:55 p.m. CDT following a lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He was condemned for the May 2013 killings of 30-year-old Roxann Sanchez and her son Anthony Figueroa at their apartment in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Bedford. Sanchez’s 12-year-old son, Marcus Figueroa, was stabbed 25 times and feigned death in order to survive.

Missouri Man Said DNA Test Could Prove Innocence. He Was Executed Before a Court Ruled.

Lance Shockley died by lethal injection last year. State courts have rejected prisoners’ requests for DNA testing in recent years. Lance Shockley, a man on death row in Missouri, wanted items from the crime scene to undergo DNA testing to potentially prove his innocence. The court scheduled proceedings on his request — but the date set was for two days after his execution. Patty Prewitt can’t have her DNA tested — and fully clear her name — because her sentence was commuted and she is no longer in prison. And others, including Lamar McVay, who is serving 30 years for a robbery, can’t even get an answer from the state on his DNA testing request. He's still awaiting a ruling on a motion he filed in September 2022.

Maldives | Death penalty law for drug trafficking now in effect

MALÉ, Maldives (DPN) — The Maldives has officially brought into force an amendment to its Narcotics Act that introduces the death penalty for large-scale drug trafficking, marking a significant and controversial shift in the island nation’s criminal justice policy. The amended law, which took effect Saturday, March 7, 2026, allows for capital punishment in cases involving the smuggling and importation of specific quantities of illicit substances. The move fulfills a key pledge by President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu’s administration to crack down on the country’s growing narcotics crisis and protect what he has termed the nation’s “100 percent Islamic society.” Thresholds for Capital Punishment Under the new provisions, the death penalty is not a mandatory sentence but an available option for the judiciary when specific criteria are met. The law establishes clear weight thresholds for substances brought into the country: Cannabis: More than 350 grams. Diamorphine (Heroin): More than 250 grams....

Alabama | Death row inmate granted clemency shares emotional message on day he was set to die

Alabama governor commuted death sentence of Charles Burton, 75, who didn't kill anyone An Alabama man who was outside a building when a man was killed in an armed robbery is looking at life as "a gift from God" after being granted clemency by the state’s governor just days before he was scheduled to be executed. Charles "Sonny" Burton, 75, was sentenced to death for his role in the robbery of a Talladega AutoZone store that left a man dead in 1991. While Burton left the store before Derrick DeBruce gunned down customer Doug Battle, he was tried and convicted as an accomplice, with prosecutors insisting Burton acted as the group’s leader in the armed robbery.

U.S. | These States Don’t Want You to See the Cruelty of Their Executions

The use of the death penalty has risen sharply in the United States, with more executions in 2025 than any year since 2009. It is a cruel and unjust development. In theory, the death penalty is reserved for “the worst of the worst.” In practice, it is very different. People who are executed for their crimes are disproportionately poor or intellectually disabled and often lacked good lawyers. They are also more likely to be sentenced to death if they have been convicted of killing a white person. Anthony Boyd, who maintained his innocence until Alabama executed him last year at age 54, had an inexperienced court-appointed lawyer and was convicted on disputed eyewitness testimony. Charles Flores, 56, has spent 27 years on death row in Texas for a murder conviction based solely on unreliable testimony from a hypnotized witness. Robert Roberson, who has autism, remains on death row there despite having been convicted on now-debunked evidence that he had shaken his daughter to death.

Supreme Court Denies Alabama Appeal, Allowing New Trial in Death Row Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for a new trial for one of Alabama’s longest-serving people on death row after declining to review a lower court ruling that prosecutors violated his constitutional rights by intentionally rejecting Black jurors. According to an article written by the Associated Press, one of the longest-serving death row inmates in Alabama might receive a new trial after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the state’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling that prosecutors had violated his rights by intentionally rejecting Black jurors. According to the article, on Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the ruling from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. This decision paved the way for Michael Sockwell, the 63-year-old death row inmate, to receive a new trial.

Florida | Governor DeSantis signs death warrant in 2008 murder case

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a death warrant for Michael L. King, setting an execution date of March 17, 2026, at 6 p.m. King was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2008 kidnapping, sexual battery and murder of Denise Amber Lee, a 21-year-old North Port mother. On January 17, 2008, Michael Lee King abducted 21-year-old Denise Amber Lee from her North Port home by forcing her into his green Chevrolet Camaro. He drove her around while she was bound, including to his cousin's house to borrow tools like a shovel. King took her to his home, where he sexually battered her, then placed her in the backseat of his car. Later that evening, he drove to a remote area, shot her in the face, and buried her nude body in a shallow grave. Her remains were discovered two days later. During the crime, multiple 9-1-1 calls were made, but communication breakdowns between emergency dispatch centers delayed the response. The case drew national attention and prompted w...

20 Minutes to Death: Witness to the Last Execution in France

The following document is a written record of convicted killer Hamida Djandoubi's last moments before he was guillotined in a Marseilles prison on September 10, 1977. This written record -- dated September 9 -- was written by a judge appointed to witness the execution. Djandoubi's execution was the last execution carried out in France before capital punishment was abolished in 1981. Then-President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who had voiced his "loathing for the death penalty" before he was elected to office, flatly turned down Djandoubi's appeal for clemency and chose to let "Justice run its course", as he did on two previous instances ( Christian Ranucci , executed on July 28, 1976 and Jérôme Carrein , executed on June 23, 1977). Hamida Djandoubi , a Tunisian national, was sentenced to death for killing his former lover, Elisabeth Bousquet. He was executed in Marseilles' Baumettes prison in September 1977. The following text was writ...

Texas Plans Second Execution of the Year

Cedric Ricks is set to be killed on March 11 Cedric Ricks spoke in his own defense at his 2013 murder trial, something most defendants accused of a terrible crime do not do. Ricks confessed that he had killed his girlfriend, Roxann Sanchez, and her 8-year-old son. He admitted he was aggressive and had trouble controlling his anger, stating that he was “sorry about everything.” The Tarrant County jury was unmoved. Ricks has spent the last 13 years on death row and is scheduled to be executed on March 11.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog